diff --git a/src/app/api/aggregate/route.ts b/src/app/api/aggregate/route.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c18aa18c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/app/api/aggregate/route.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+// Vercel-edge CDN proxy for the aggregate blob.
+//
+// kv.openchainbench.com/aggregate/latest.json lives on the Paris VPS
+// (no CDN). Vercel functions run in IAD1 (US East) and were timing out
+// on the 7.5 MB payload at the old 8 s limit. This route re-exposes the
+// blob through Vercel's own CDN: the first request fetches from VPS
+// (slow), Vercel caches the response at IAD1's edge for 60 s, all
+// subsequent calls within that window cost ~1 ms instead of ~4 s.
+//
+// aggregate-blob.ts can point AGGREGATE_BLOB_URL at this route instead
+// of kv.openchainbench.com to get near-zero latency from any Vercel
+// function in the same region.
+export const runtime = "nodejs";
+
+const UPSTREAM = "https://kv.openchainbench.com/aggregate/latest.json";
+const UPSTREAM_TIMEOUT_MS = 25_000;
+
+export async function GET() {
+  let upstream: Response;
+  try {
+    upstream = await fetch(UPSTREAM, {
+      signal: AbortSignal.timeout(UPSTREAM_TIMEOUT_MS),
+      headers: { "Accept-Encoding": "gzip, br" },
+      cache: "no-store",
+    });
+  } catch (err) {
+    return new Response(
+      JSON.stringify({ error: "upstream fetch failed", detail: String(err) }),
+      { status: 502, headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" } },
+    );
+  }
+
+  if (!upstream.ok) {
+    return new Response(
+      JSON.stringify({ error: "upstream error", status: upstream.status }),
+      { status: 502, headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" } },
+    );
+  }
+
+  const body = await upstream.arrayBuffer();
+  return new Response(body, {
+    status: 200,
+    headers: {
+      "Content-Type": "application/json",
+      // Vercel CDN caches 60 s + 5 min SWR — aligns with the materialize
+      // worker's publish cadence (~60 s). The sitemap and homepage get a
+      // warm edge hit after the first request.
+      "Cache-Control": "public, s-maxage=60, stale-while-revalidate=300",
+    },
+  });
+}
diff --git a/src/lib/aggregate-blob.ts b/src/lib/aggregate-blob.ts
index ace33ba6..57ea5efd 100644
--- a/src/lib/aggregate-blob.ts
+++ b/src/lib/aggregate-blob.ts
@@ -24,8 +24,15 @@ import type { Benchmark } from "@/types/benchmark";
 import { loadSpecsUncached } from "@/lib/materialize/load";
 import { overlayEditorial, slimBenchmarkForCache } from "@/lib/spec";
 
-const DEFAULT_URL = "https://kv.openchainbench.com/aggregate/latest.json";
-const FETCH_TIMEOUT_MS = 8_000;
+// In production, use the self-hosted Vercel CDN proxy (/api/aggregate)
+// so IAD1 functions pay ~1 ms (edge cache hit) instead of ~4 s crossing
+// the Atlantic to kv.openchainbench.com (Paris VPS, no CDN).
+// In dev/preview, hit the VPS directly — CDN caching doesn't apply.
+const DEFAULT_URL =
+  process.env.VERCEL_ENV === "production"
+    ? "https://openchainbench.com/api/aggregate"
+    : "https://kv.openchainbench.com/aggregate/latest.json";
+const FETCH_TIMEOUT_MS = 20_000;
 const MIN_BENCHES = 40;
 
 type AggregateEnvelope = {
@@ -56,6 +63,9 @@ async function fetchAndProject(): Promise<Benchmark[] | null> {
       // Bypass Next's fetch memoization; the outer unstable_cache handles
       // cross-request caching, we don't want double-layered TTLs.
       cache: "no-store",
+      // Explicitly request compression so Vercel's Node.js fetch gets the
+      // 2MB gzip payload instead of the 7.5MB raw JSON.
+      headers: { "Accept-Encoding": "gzip, br" },
     });
     if (!res.ok) {
       console.warn(`[aggregate-blob] fetch ${url} → ${res.status}`);
diff --git a/src/lib/sitemap-builder.ts b/src/lib/sitemap-builder.ts
index ff9a3b28..fcef82ea 100644
--- a/src/lib/sitemap-builder.ts
+++ b/src/lib/sitemap-builder.ts
@@ -565,7 +565,7 @@ async function buildFullSitemap(): Promise<MetadataRoute.Sitemap> {
 export async function buildSitemap(): Promise<MetadataRoute.Sitemap> {
   try {
     const timeout = new Promise<never>((_, reject) =>
-      setTimeout(() => reject(new Error("sitemap build timeout")), 25_000),
+      setTimeout(() => reject(new Error("sitemap build timeout")), 45_000),
     );
     return await Promise.race([buildFullSitemap(), timeout]);
   } catch (err) {